


Fancy clothes

by Ren



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-08
Updated: 2010-12-08
Packaged: 2017-10-13 13:56:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/138130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ren/pseuds/Ren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin helps Arthur get dressed for a banquet, with the usual dose of bickering and banter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fancy clothes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [camelot_fics](http://community.livejournal.com/camelot_fics/profile)'s Challenge 1. Prompt: "celebration".

Halfway through tying the laces of Arthur's stupid doublet, Merlin lost his patience.

"This outfit looks even more ridiculous than yesterday's, and yesterday's outfit made you look like a total pillock," he snapped, keeping his eyes fixed on the laces in a futile attempt at not tying his fingers together.

Arthur snorted. "Since when are you an expert on fashion, Merlin?" he asked.

Merlin, being the one in charge of Arthur's wardrobe, thought he knew quite a lot more than him. But it was never wise to try and claim to be better than Arthur at something. "Anyone can see that purple is not your colour. And besides it makes you look fat."

Of course, riling him up like this wasn't wise either, but Merlin had never been famous for his wisdom. He couldn't help grinning when he noticed the alarmed glance that Arthur shot at his own reflection in the mirror.

"It does not make me look fat," Arthur pouted.

Merlin's smile widened. "Of course not, sire," he replied. "Maybe it would be better if you wore your other doublet, the red one...?"

Arthur thought about it, then nodded. "All right," he said, and Merlin felt proud for his small victory until it became clear that Arthur was waiting for him to untie the laces of the purple doublet before getting him the other one. Of course, why hadn't he thought of that? It wasn't as if the prince could lower himself to taking off his own clothes.

Merlin grumbled and set back to work. If he was very quick and if Arthur didn't have any more requests, maybe they'd manage not to be late this time.

"Remind me again, what's tonight's banquet for?" Merlin asked.

"It's to celebrate how I killed that couple of manticores that were plaguing the outlying villages," Arthur said in an absent-minded voice. (Merlin noticed that he was still checking his reflection. So much for his attempt at indifference.)

"I thought we already had a feast for that," Merlin replied. "Two days ago? You got drunk and I had to get you back to your room and make sure you didn't fall off the stairs."

"I wasn't that much drunk," Arthur complained. Merlin rolled his eyes. "Anyway, two days ago was to celebrate the solstice. Yesterday was for Bayard's arrival. And tomorrow we're having a feast for our two newest knights."

Merlin groaned. He'd been hoping to get tomorrow off. "Even more celebrations?" he asked. "We've been having banquets every night in the last week, I thought you'd have got tired of them after a while."

"It's important to show that the king cares about events such as the visits of foreign dignitaries and popular festivities..."

"...and the fact that you got lost while hunting and stumbled across a couple of manticores?" Merlin finished for him. "How is that important?"

Arthur glared at him. "Those were dangerous creatures, and I killed them," he snapped. "You could at least show some gratitude for the fact that I keep Camelot safe."

Merlin would have been more grateful if he hadn't been the one who got to dress the prince for all these important public events. Also, he'd been the one who killed a manticore with a well-aimed blast of magic and distracted the other one long enough for Arthur to stab it to death. Not that anyone would ever thank him for that.

He finished lacing Arthur's clothes and stood back to admire his work. "There, you look better with these clothes," he said. "You don't even look that much fat."

It was all he could do not to burst out laughing at Arthur's affronted face.


End file.
